‘Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan are good boys of Hindi films’: Aanjjan Srivastava’s long innings, juggling acting with a bank job

 

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Aanjjan shares, “I was a banker and simultaneously did theatre, this was in 1968. I was a very good worker in Allahabad Bank, which then became Indian Bank. I worked at the bank for 31 years. I used to be a banker in the day and an actor by evening. I wanted to be an actor but my father suggested that I shouldn’t give up on my bank job, so I gave up my promotions and held my service because I loved both my jobs equally.”

On why he took up a job at a bank even when he always wanted to pursue acting, Aanjjan says, “We were middle class people, we were not behind the money… my father was a banker and he wanted me to hold my job because I was good at it. My father had advised me to declare my earnings, and I continued to do so, it helped me sail through and kept my conscience clean.”

Sharing how he finally landed in the city of dreams to become an actor and joined Bajraj Sahani in theatre, Aanjan says, “I came to Mumbai in 1978 when my sister passed away. I wanted to pursue acting and my sister knew about it. When I lost, her I felt the urge to be an actor even more deeply and I knew I would have to go to Mumbai for it. My sister would often request my father to allow me to go to Mumbai, she would say, ‘aapka beta bigdega nahi,’ because people think bacchhe bidag jaate hai Mumbai mein, more so if you join the film industry. Mumbai made me. I met some of the finest people here, starting from Balraj Sahani, who guided me through theatre. Then I was very lucky to meet people like Kaifi Azmi as well, it was great working with them, they helped me a lot. Later on I met Kundan Shah, Hrishikesh Mukerji, RK Laxman and gradually I grew.”

 

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“When I came to Mumbai, I was on a break from my bank job for six months. I rejoined the bank here. I used to be very sincere about my work, I did theatre after finishing work every day. Guzara karna bada mushkil hota tha (It was tough to make a living), I needed that job and I couldn’t give up on my passion for acting. So my bank job helped me stay afloat while I tried my hands at acting in theatre and films. There were times when my friends have sent me money so that I could pay rent. I used to live as a paying guest, it was a struggle but I loved every bit of it,” he added.

After doing theatre for years, Aanjjan started appearing in TV shows and films. “Films and TV came into my life much later. In 1978 I did Gol Maal and then Hrishikesh Mukerjee and I worked together a lot. When a new person comes to Mumbai, they find two things very difficult in this city — rehna aur khana (lodging and boarding), so Hrishi-da would make sure all his cast and crew ate properly. He would ask everyone ‘khana khaya kya?‘ and would ask his staff to make sure everyone is fed properly.”

 

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“As a bank worker, I had then started finishing off my work before time and leave for theatre. There would also be times when I had to take leaves to shoot and then I would run out of leaves and I couldn’t go to a shoot. I had shot Albert Pinto Ko Gussa Kyon Aata Hai in the nights, that’s when I met Kundan Shah and he offered me Yeh Jo Hai Zindagi. I told him that I don’t have leaves, but he said that he’d seen my theatre performance and believed that I can pull it off. He promised me that he’s shoot my scenes after I get done with work, and that’s how I managed to shoot for the serial. My collaborations with Kundan Shah have made me what I am today, he helped me become Wagle (of Wagle Ki Duniya).”

Aanjjan credits RK Laxman for making him the country’s most loved character, the common man through his show Wagle Ki Duniya. He says, “I wasn’t a trained actor, I didn’t go to FTII or NSD like most of my contemporaries, but my theatre training came in handy. I would give credit to RK Lakshman for teaching me the meter in acting while we shot Wagle Ki Duniya. We shot only six episodes and people loved it all over the world. Around the same time we were shooting for for Bharat Ek Khoj, that’s where Om Puri told me that I should buy a car. I told him I can’t afford it. He said only doing good acting won’t suffice, we also need to maintain a standard. He asked to to use his old car and asked me to pay him Rs 1500 and said that whenever I want to return his car, I can take the money back from him.”

 

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Aanjjan has appeared in films like Kabhi Haan Kabhi Naa, Chak De India with Shah Rukh Khan and Yuvraj with Salman Khan, the two “good boys” of the industry, as Aanjjan likes to call them. Sharing his experience working with the two Khans, Aanjjan shares, “Shah Rukh Khan was a young man when he did an episode with us in Wagle Ki Duniya. He then did Circus, and then his first film, Kabhi Haan Kabhi Naa. I have known him from his early days, and I am very happy for where he has reached. But I had maintained that I would not go and ask for work just because I have worked with someone before. Shah Rukh has always been the sweetest. Once, before Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani, we ran into each other, I was walking and a car came up to me and flashed its headlight. It was SRK; he got down from the car and met me. He asked me where I have been and what I was doing. He also asked me why I was not keeping in touch with him, so I said I had no means of contacting him. ‘Where do I contact you?’ so he went to a pan shop nearby, got a piece of paper and wrote down his pager number, saying he’ll be directly available on it. I never contacted him for work, but then he called me for Chak De India.”

“Salman too is a very cultured and well-behaved boy. We worked in Yuvraj together and he gets up to meet senior actors on set, respects all and talks to everyone without any airs. So it has been a great experience working with all of them and it feels good that these actors who have become stars are still approachable and talk to other actors like they always used to. They don’t forget people,” Srivastav concludes.